Site Announcements and a Day Trip to Remember

Last week, after a lot of hype and rumors, each program (business and education) received a list of possible sites along with job descriptions. In addition, interviews were scheduled with our program managers to discuss these sites as well as personal preferences. After a lot of thought, I came to the decision that I really wanted to be in the Ha’apai island group, and preferenced three sites, all in Ha’apai, as my top choices. Ha’apai is the least developed of all the island groups; there is less there- fewer people, fewer imported goods, less infrastructure- and in general, life is more traditional and much much slower, especially on the outer islands. I really want a smaller village experience, and I want to live without some of the capitalism and globalization that has a grip in Nuku’alofa, although I will miss the market and vegetables there! Sadly, there’s only one education site on ‘Eua and it’s at a Kindy, so that’s not really a choice, but I would love to visit that island soon as well. Of course there are good aspects of development in Tonga, but, in a lot of ways, it appears that most of it is not horribly sustainable. Anyways, that’s a different rant for a different post.

I had my interview with Viliami, the education PM, who is absolutely wonderful, and I told him that I wanted to be in Ha’apai, most importantly away from Nuku’alofa. I got the feeling that he was initially thinking of placing me in the capital, but after the interview/discussion, I think he was leaning in a different direction…

Before the boat trip yesterday morning we all gathered in the Wesleyan church hall and our sites were announced! Each one of us went up to the front and pulled a name out of a box that had the name of a trainee and their site information and read it aloud to everyone. All of the trainees were there (obviously) as well as the staff and some of the current volunteers, and it was a lot of fun. The best part is that I got placed in Ha’apai! My site is in the village of Koulo where I will be teaching Engligh in the Government Primary School (GPS) for Koulo and Holopeka. My village is on the north of the main island of Lifuka in Ha’apai, and it’s only about 5km from the capital of Ha’apai, Pangai- perfect for getting to the market and to the PC office. Apparently the village is right where the airport is, and there is a land bridge which connects Lifuka to the next island, Foa. As an added bonus, the best beaches in all of Tonga are in Ha’apai, and most of them are on Foa! Also, I am so happy about the other people who are going to be in Ha’apai with me- it’s a wonderful group! Melanie and Eric will be on the outer island of Ha’afeva, Monica will be on the outer island of Toungua (they will be a few hours away from Lifuka), Sarah will be on Foa, and Kate and Brett will be on Lifuka with me, in Pangai! It’s such a great group, and I feel so lucky to be able to spend the next two years with everyone.

I am really excited about Koulo, but also a bit nervous. After we got back from the boat trip, Viliami asked to talk to me for a bit. He told me that there had been a volunteer placed in Koulo last year who ETed (Early Termination) a few weeks into her service because of something that happened. Without going into too much detail, from what I can gather, there was an incident where a drunk man tried to break into her house and PC handled the situation very poorly, and she ended up being medically evacuated and eventually ETed. Viliami was very upfront about PC’s role in this incident and told me that some of this was PC’s fault. I am definitely going to have to talk to other volunteers who were in Ha’apai and see what their take on everything is. But, I’m feeling pretty at ease- they take safety and security very seriously- and I still think it’ll end up being a positive experience.

Part II: Boat Trip!
A few weeks ago the current volunteers in Vava’u had tried to organize a boat trip to some of the outer islands in Vava’u just to give us a day to relax, take a break from training, and spend some quality time out on the water and at a beach (where we can wear real swimsuits!). Sadly, the initial trip was rained out (and by that I mean it poured for about 2 days straight, yay rainy season) but we were able to try again after site announcements. We all headed down to Neiafu and from there departed on a little boat. Everyone had bathing suits and a fair amount of alcohol, and it was just a lovely break from the monotony of training and a chance to finally feel like ourselves and act like Americans in the South Pacific. We stopped a few times on the water and were able to swim into caves and hang out on the ocean- I can’t believe how long we’ve been in Tonga, and this was our first time out on the water. Vava’u is amazingly gorgeous, and I really understand why it’s such a big yachting destination. We stopped for several hours at a small island where there is a resort with a restaurant and a bar and we all hung out in the water snorkeling and swimming, on the beach tanning and throwing a disc around (of course I brought one), tanning, and drinking (to be fair, that happened everywhere), and at the bar. It was so much fun to relax and spend time with everyone, and I hope there will be a lot more days on the ocean in the next two years!